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The Home Buying Process

Click on an image to learn more about that home buying step.

Step 1 - Research

The first step in your home buying search is the one that will lay the foundation for the rest of your home buying process. If you do the right homework, ask great questions, and get to know the best people for the job at hand, your home buying process will be smooth sailing.

If you're thinking of buying a home, the first thing you'll want to do is conduct a personal Needs and Wants Analysis. What are things that I want in my new home and what are things that I need in my new home? Start with the things that you need, and round out that list with the things that you want.

How many bedrooms do you need? How many bathrooms do you need? How big of a place do you need? Do you need a garage?

Then, once you have your needs identified, move on to the things that you want. I want a detached, single-family home. I want a pool. I would like at least half an acre. And so on, and so on.

After you've established your Needs and Wants Analysis, it is time to hit the world wide web to conduct a little bit of research on your own. Check out some homes available for sale on Zillow and Trulia. Explore some cool neighborhoods on HotPads and the Hohman Homes Neighborhoods page. Look up school district information on Realtor.com and Homes.com. See what might and might not work for you using the things you know you will need and want.

Now that you have an idea of what you need and what you want, you then have to determine how much you can afford. Most homebuyers use a mortgage to purchase their home. A mortgage is a loan from a financial institution that allows you to pay a portion of the closing price now and pay the rest of the price of the home over a period of time. Before you can make an offer on a home (and before you can even really see some homes) you need to get pre-approved to see how much home you can afford. Click here to start the pre-approval process.

The best thing to do to get started is to go with our Teammates here at Hohman Homes. All of our Teammates will have the insight and the experience to guide you through the entire home buying process, from seeing your favorite home on Zillow, to connecting with a reliable mortgage representative, to using a trustworthy home inspection, and closing with a fantastic title agent. Throughout your entire home buying process, the Hohman Homes Team will be looking out for you.

Step 2 - Show

After you've done your homework online about pricing, housing preferences, and service providers, you are ready for the fun stuff. You are now ready to go schedule a showing at a house for sale.

The best way to set up a showing is through your Hohman Homes Teammate. Real estate agents hold the keys - both literally and figuratively - to the homes that you want to go see. They can also tell you certain details about the home that you won't be able to find online or through any other service.

We recommend seeing anywhere from 4 to 8 different properties in a single showing period. The exact number depends on how far away the homes are from each other. Expect to spend anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes at each, depending on how much you like that home. And always make sure to give your Hohman Homes Teammate a 24-hour heads up before going to see a house, just in case the seller of that house has any specific showing requests.

Step 3 - Offer

You've done all your research, and you've seen all the homes you want to go see and now you've fallen in love with the perfect home. Now what? Now comes the part where having a Hohman Homes Teammate makes all the difference. Submitting the offer is the most crucial step in securing your home.

The standard real estate contract is twelve pages, and some homes - especially new construction homes - can have up to 30 pages of additional addendum and riders. It takes an experienced and knowledgeable eye to identify all the components of an offer that work for you and that will make the sellers want to choose your offer.

There are several key pieces of the offer, including specific dates, times, and mortgage payments that are required to keep the contract going. Without hitting these targets, the chances of you getting your dream home is just a dream.

Step 4 - Negotiate

The negotiation step quickly separates the average real estate agents from the great Hohman Homes Teammates. Having a Realtor on your side during the negotiations to buy your home can save you thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars, on the purchase of your new dream home.

It is during the negotiation process where we will finalize all the important details of buying your home with the sellers. Things like closing price, closing date, terms of the financing, inspection period, closing cost assistance, down payment amount, escrow deposits, title insurance, home warranties, and many more items will all be ironed out in the negotiation steps.

All you have to do is tell your Hohman Homes Teammate what you want, and they'll do all the work. The best part? Using a Hohman Homes Teammate when buying your home is completely free!

Step 5 - Inspect

After your Hohman Homes Teammate has ratified all the terms and conditions of your contract, it is time to move on to the inspect phase of buying your home. These inspections can range from simple things like a general home inspection to specific and important things like a wind mitigation report or a wood destroying organism report. If something is physically wrong with the home, it is during this inspection step that we will find out what's behind some of those walls, how old is the electrical system, and just how much longer we expect the roof and the air conditioner to last.

Also inspected during this time are your finances. If you are going to be getting a mortgage on your house, the financial institution providing the mortgage will be doing a thorough underwriting process to make sure that your finances are up to par when it comes time to buy your home.

Step 6 - Close

You've done your homework, you've looked at countless homes throughout the city, put several offers on great properties, and inspected every aspect of your perfect home and your financial picture too. The only thing left to do is close on your home.

Before you get to the closing table, your mortgage and title representative will give you several important documents regarding your duties and responsibilities as the home buyer. Our Hohman Homes Teammates will go over all of these documents with you to make sure everything looks good and ready for closing.

Then, at the closing table, as the home buyer you are responsible for delivering the funds to close on the home - either through your down payments and/or your mortgage financing - while the seller is responsible for turning over the home to you free and clear. (Don't worry about the details, the title representative handles this part exclusively. Your Hohman Homes Teammate will be there every step of the way with you during close.)

Finally, after you've signed what seems to be a nearly endless stack of papers, you are off and ready to get the keys to your new home and move in!